Symptoms of a Disorganized Life

It's been a while since I've written anything. You might have thought that I finally ran out of things to write about. That may very well be true. But fear not, because even that won't put the brakes on this train. The reason I haven't been writing is that I have been BUSY! Today was my last day of the semester, but that meant that the last few weeks have been full of studying and researching and paper-writing. Plus, I've learned that December can be a pretty busy month for Walmart cashiers, so when I haven't been doing work for school, I've been getting into fisticuffs with crazed holiday shoppers. Unfortunately, the one who has lost in all of this mess is you, O Faithful Reader. Or maybe you consider it winning. In that case, congratulations, and I'm sorry to rain on your parade.

A while back I read a book called Ordering Your Private World, written by Gordon MacDonald. It's a pretty good book, and I would recommend it. In one part of the book, MacDonald is writing about how we can better manage our time, and he provides a list of "symptoms of disorganization." As I said, I have been pretty busy lately, and when I look at this list, I realize that just about every symptom applies to me. So, I thought that I would share them with you. I won't really tell you how to fix any of these situations. If you want to know about that, I guess you'll have to go buy the book. Anyways, here's what MacDonald identifies as symptoms of a disorganized life:

A cluttered living and working area
When life becomes disorganized, it shows up in certain areas of one's environment--a desk, the top of a dresser, etc. MacDonald writes, "In fact almost every horizontal surface in the path of my daily travel becomes littered with papers, memos to which I have not responded, and bits of tasks that are unfinished." As I sit here in the chair in my apartment, I can look around and see the clutter around me. The coffee table in front of me is filled with loose papers, junk mail, and not one, but two empty Chick-fil-A cups. If I look to my left, I see more papers, old receipts, and some empty wrappers from Little Debbie oatmeal cakes. Now, I could get up and clean off these areas. It would take about 28 seconds. But I keep leaving it, saying, "I'll clean up later."

A dirty car
This one might sounds pretty petty, but I think it's accurate. When one is living an organized life, the condition of his car might suffer. It goes unwashed, the backseat becomes filled with drive-thru bags and old church bulletins. You keep driving well past when you should have gotten an oil change, saying that you'll do it next week. I once heard a senior minister at a megachurch say that, whenever his church is considering hiring a new staff member, he wants to first ride in their car so that he can see the condition of the interior, because a messy car implies a messy life.

Diminution of self-esteem
I'll just quote MacDonald here: "I feel the slightest tinge of paranoia, a low-level fear that people are going to discover they are not getting their money's worth out of my labor, that they are going to come to the conclusion that I am not half the man they thought I was." I can relate to this much of the time. I don't alwas feel like I am the person I could be, but maturing and developing just sounds like so much work. That can wait till another day.

Missed appointments and deadlines, and messages that have not be replied to
When life is disorganized, you think you're coasting along alright until you think, "Holy crap! I was supposed to be at so-and-so place to meet with so-and-so person to talk about so-and-so half an hour ago!" Or, you continually fail to respond to emails, voicemails, or facebook pokes. I'm really bad about this, actually. Almost every time I get a message that I need to respond to, I put it off till later, really for no reason.

Investing energies in unproductive tasks
An unorganized person has trouble focusing on priorities. Instead, they spend time doing what's easiest. Instead of studying for a test, it's easier to sync your iPod. Instead of writing a sermon for Sunday, why not doodle on a notepad? Of course, this only leads to further lack of organization, as you get further and further behind what needs to be done because you've used your time on things that aren't really that important.

Feeling poorly about one's work
We all want to churn out quality production. The problem is that many of us have a difficult time feeling like we've done so. For example, I don't think this is my best blog post. Heck, I didn't even come up with the main ideas. A disorganized person recognizes that they haven't turned in their best work. This is related to the previous point. Because you might spend your available time in meaningless distractions, you don't spend the time required to bring quality to what you do.

A lack of intimacy with God
Disorganization doesn't only affect one's work. It can have a negative impact on one's relationship with God. When life is disorganized, it becomes difficult to work in time in Bible study and prayer. You might neglect involvement in church life. After all, how can you give yourself to such things when there is a stack of memos on your desk and a ever-growing to-do list in your mind?

A lowered quality in relationships
The relationship with God isn't the only one that suffers in a disorganized life. In such a state, it's common to spend less time with your spouse, kids, friends, siblings, etc. There's just no time for relationships. But the thing is, relationships require time. They can't grow without it. They stall out, or, even worse, are weakened. Conversations become shallow, and you might become irratible around others because you feel that they are intruding on your busyness and hustle.

Maybe some of those symptoms describe how your life is looking right now. As I said, just about all of them show up in mine. If so, it would be a good idea to deal with the issue--to budget time, create a list of priorities, and stop procrastinating.

Speaking of procrastinating, I have yet to buy any Christmas presents for my family. My family is difficult to buy for, and I'm not sure what to get. So I thought, "Why not get some input from my best friends--the people who read my blog?" So, digital world, what idea do ya got for me?